The films of Akira Kurosawa used to be the gateway into Japanese cinema for many non-Japanese. (That role has since been assumed by the films of Hayao Miyazaki and other animators.)

Compound Cinematics: Akira Kurosawa and I, by Shinobu Hashimoto, Translated by Lori Hitchcock Morimoto.
256 pages
Vertical, Nonfiction.